Susan Crandall On Blue Falls Pond

On Blue Falls Pond

Susan Crandall

Warner, Jan 2006, $6.50, 448 pp.

ISBN: 0446616397

Eighteen months ago Glory Harrison is rescued from an inferno by Dawson, Tennessee Fire Chief Eric Wilson; her husband Andrew died in the blaze and not long afterward she miscarried. While her beloved septuagenarian Granny Tula Baker believes that God has a reason to put her granddaughter through such a tragedy, Glory, though she remembers nothing from that tragic night no longer believes. She flees her hometown as the memories haunt her; no place feels like a home anymore.

Tula asks Glory to come home for a short stay so she can see her one last time as her eyes are failing her. Though reluctant to return to the site of her tragedy, Glory would face demons for her beloved Granny Tula so she comes home. Glory becomes upset when she thinks Eric is using Granny Tula to watch his three year old son Scott, whom he believes has a behavioral problem though his ex-wife Jill denies this. As she sees him help Granny Tula she revises her belief. She begins to remember what happened on that fatal night, but will it be in time to prevent more misfortune from reoccurring?

ON BLUE FALLS POND is a strong glimpse at how individuals react to crisis differently with some hiding or running away while others finding solace to help them cope. Granny Tula turned to God after the tragedy while Glory turned away from God; Eric accepts that there is problem with his son while Jill rejects any notion that the child has any deep rooted behavioral issues. The late exciting suspense takes away from the core value of a powerful psychological drama that grips the audience once Glory starts shaking as she approaches Dawson.

Harriet Klausner